Port Authority Official Defends Agency's Decision, but Apologizes for Failing to Alert Others

An official from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, appearing before a skeptical committee of the New Jersey state Assembly on Monday, defended the agency's temporary closure of local access lanes onto the George Washington Bridge in September, while apologizing for failing to alert local officials and executives within the authority itself.

Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of the bi-state authority, said the closures arose from an internal effort to gauge the "fairness" of having local access...